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A bunch of us are meeting up in Bay leaf in NYC on April 2nd.
Seshu has the up-to-date list of all who are attending and has been keeping track of the RSVPs. If you plan to attend, ping him by March 31st at tiffinbox at pipalproductions dot com. Write 'Bay leaf' on the subject line.
I had a software product scheduled for release on the middle of this month. For reasons not worth getting into online, it didnt happen. Obviously, all sorts of hell ensued. Blogging wasnt exactly the most high priority activity for the last few weeks ... But things seem to be falling into place. This sort of thing is not exactly uncommon in IT industry.
In times like these, I sometimes do wonder wheather the previous unglobalized generation of Indians had the better deal - wheather they would have recognized the sort of high-stress, intense, roller coaster lifestyle that we all seem to lead and wheather trading off that leisure and ease for quality of life and richness of experience is worth all that it is made out to be.
Mostly though, I am reasonably happy with my life and the unexpected turns that it seems to take every few years.
But yesterday, we had invited for lunch a very dear older relative who came to USA a few decades back. As he started reminiscing and recounted stories - stories of his grandfather, in his horse drawn carriage in a Patna that doesnt exist any more, stories of Shikars in the jungles of Chotnagpur that no longer belongs to Bihar - stories that his children have gotten tired of, his friends can't relate to - I had an epiphany that this scene can be reenacted again 40 years from now - that it can be framed perfectly in a Jhumpa Lahiri story ....
A few months back, I had picked up a thin volume called 'Letters of Transit - reflections on exile, identity, language and loss'. It is a gem of a book. It articulated much better than I could have - how travel can give you rich material for writing, for knowing yourself so much better than you would have if you had lived in your own space - be it social, geographic or cultural. But as you cross the artificial boundaries created by people, you slowly become a foreigner in your own land, and if you do not truely manage to adopt your new landscape, all you are left with, is an imaginary homeland and you fellow exiles with their own seperate memories and seperate losses.
But then I think about the deep injustices of everyday life in so many corners of the world, and I start feeling embarassed about my preoccupation with my self-actualization needs.
I guess we should just take with both hands what life gives us and be grateful for it.
Here is wishing that you are having a happy holy/easter/long weekend.
Alright, I moved house without any major mishap. Normal blogging schedule should resume soon. The announcements that I had talked about earlier, will have to wait for a while. In the mean time, here are a few interesting links:
Two blogs that I have come to enjoy in the last few weeks (via Anand, I think)
- Vernacular body
- India Uncut
A nice homage to R K Narayan in Indian Express (via Amit Verma)
Yet another interview with Neil Stephenson. (he always says interesting stuff)
Sunanda K Datta-Roy used to be the editor of The Statesman in Calcutta. He seems to have lost his job. He wrote about what it is like to be a common man again in the streets of Calcutta.
I was quite big on Pat Metheny a few years back. In last week's NYT Pat Metheny talked about music he likes. If you are a fan, you would enjoy this.